THURROCK Conservatives are calling for all Councillors to "lead the way" in how Thurrock will help with the refugees crisis caused by the situation in Syrian.
Conservative Deputy Leader, Cllr James Halden, has tabled a motion to Full Council next week that calls for the Council to be ready with a plan for support services from housing and social care to public protection, while engaging with the Home Office to ensure that costs are distributed evenly across local authorities.
Conservative Leader, Cllr Rob Gledhill said “Government has made the decision to accept 20,000 people from refugee camps to help with the humanitarian crisis. Saying no is now not an option, so we need to lead the way to ensure fairness for both our existing residents and across our local government colleagues. The way we do that is to approach government now, with a unified voice.
I do welcome Government promising to use foreign aid money to help meet costs, in simple terms money that would normally be spent abroad will be spent here in Thurrock. We are still waiting on some details, but all the signs are is that if we engage now we can help shape a thought-out response which will save our taxpayers additional burdens later.”
Cllr Halden said “This is a balance between compassion and pragmatism. Pulling up the draw bridge is morally wrong, and also means that we leave ourselves as a local authority unprepared which will lead to greater costs because we are not ready with integrated and thought-out service provision.
As elected members we need to show leadership. Yes we have our own issues here and now, but they will not be solved by refusing aid to those who need it. In fact those issues will be made worse if we don’t work with the government and other councils to deal with this crisis proactively.
No one wants to spend money to deal with a crisis, but that is not an offer on the table – we have a crisis and therefore we need to step up to meet a moral and governance challenge".
